Sippy Sidhu murder: CBI arrests HP high court acting chief justice’s daughter

Kalyani Singh remanded in four-day police custody; national-level shooter Sukhmanpreet Singh, alias Sippy Sidhu, was shot dead in Sector 27 park in Chandigarh on September 20, 2015

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Kalyani Singh, 36, the daughter of Justice Sabina Singh, the acting chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh high court, in connection with the murder of national-level shooter and corporate lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh, alias Sippy Sidhu, over six years ago in Chandigarh.

Kalyani, who was working as assistant professor on contract basis in the home science department of Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Chandigarh, was arrested after she was found “evasive and deceptive” along with evidence of her being present in the park.

Officials said that during investigation, the CBI found documentary evidence suggesting that Kalyani Singh and Sidhu were close and that the romantic relationship had turned sour.

Sippy was shot dead in a Sector 27 park in Chandigarh on September 20, 2015. His family had been accusing Kalyani, Sippy’s former girlfriend who was the judge’s daughter, of being involved in the murder. The family had been attributing the murder to the refusal of a marriage proposal.

The central agency had registered the first information report (FIR) in the killing of Sidhu, who was also a lawyer, on April 13, 2016, on the request of the Chandigarh administration.

The central agency had called Kalyani Singh for questioning where she was found evasive in responses following which she was arrested, sources said.

Earlier, the CBI had even filed an untraced report before the court, requesting further investigation into Kalyani’s role. During further investigation, the CBI said that the involvement of Kalyani came forth.

“Accordingly, she was examined and arrested. She was produced in the court of the special judicial magistrate, Chandigarh, on Wednesday and remanded in four days’ police custody,” the CBI spokesperson said.

CBI would be questioning her on identification of the fire arm and assailant, recovery of weapon, vehicle and to unearth the conspiracy and role of other unknown persons.

Refusal of marriage proposal and embarrassment led to murder: CBI

CBI said that the investigations so far conducted have revealed that Kalyani was in close relationship with Sippy. “She wanted to marry him but her proposal was turned down by Sippy’s family. Sippy had leaked her objectionable photos to her parents and friends, which had caused embarrassment to Kalyani and her family,” said the CBI while attributing motive to the murder.

The investigations pointed out that Kalyani on September 18, 2015 had contacted Sippy through mobile phones of other persons and compelled him to meet her in the park on Sector 27, Chandigarh, where the two had met between September 18 and September 20, the night when he was murdered.

Kalyani along with other assailant shot Sippy: CBI

The CBI said that investigations revealed that one unknown assailant and accused Kalyani killed Sippy by using the firearms. The postmortem report of deceased Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu reflects that the murder was committed by using short gun firearm ammunition. The CBI said both were seen running from the spot after murder. As per sources, a Maruti Zen car with its last four digit “1183” was spotted at the place of incident at the time of murder.

“During her earlier examination she was evasive in answering the relevant questions and was also found deceptive in the polygraph test on the questions/issues related to the murder,” said CBI concluding that accused Kalyani in conspiracy with unknown assailant murdered Sippy.

Declining remand would thwart investigations: CBI Court

The request for police remand, made by the CBI, was opposed by the counsels of accused Kalyani, “terming it abuse of law”.

“It is six-year-old case and CBI had even filed an untraced report. She (Kalyani) had earlier joined investigations but nothing incriminating was found against her.”

Dismissing their plea, special judicial magistrate, CBI Chandigarh, Sukhdev Singh, in an order granting four-day remand said, “Though it is an old case and earlier attempts to uncover real events of crime were not successful, the CBI kept attempting to collect evidence. Declining police remand at this stage would only thwart investigations in its early stage.”

The court, without commenting on merits of the case, granted four-day remand with directions that Kalyani’s counsels are to remain present during investigation in police station without actively participating or interfering in the investigation process. Kalyani was also allowed to use her own clothes subject to checking.